COMIC COMMENTARY, COMICS READ WEEK OF 2/6/2017

Modern Marvels

DC Comics Pick of the Week: Action Comics #973

                Superman unwittingly leaves a trail to the Fortress while Lois continues to dig into the mystery of Clark Kent.  Dan Jurgens continues to prove that he has a grasp on Superman as a character like few others.  Since the onset of Rebirth, Jurgens has put several plates into play:

•      How will Superman react to New 52 Lex Luthor?
•      Who is Mr. Oz?
•      Who is Clark Kent?

The last story arc established a détente between Luthor and Superman, with both realizing that their nemesis is not the same man that they have known on both sides.  This story arc drives into the mystery of the second Clark Kent and the potential danger he poses to Superman’s private life.

Honorable Mentions (an above average read): Deadman: Dark Mansion of Forbidden Love #3, Deathstroke #12, Justice League of America Rebirth #1, New Super-Man #8, Red Hood and the Outlaws #7, Wonder Woman #16 (Yes, Rebirth is this good!!)

Other reads:  All-Star Batman #7, Batgirl and the Birds of Prey #7, Detective Comics #950, Earth 2 Society #21, Flash #16, Gotham Academy Second Semester #6, Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps #14, Suicide Squad #11, Supergirl #6, Superwoman #7, and Titans #8

Marvel  Comics Pick of the Week: Ms. Marvel #15

                At first it seems like this issue has dropped the previous thread of Kamala being confronted by a member of on-line guild, and instead introduces a story of cyber-bullying and the levels at which a second-generation immigrant feels they have to over-compensate in modern America to validate their culture and break down stereotypes.  It quickly ties the two together by the online entity threatening to blackmail Kamala being the same one involved in the cyber-bullying.  Ms. Marvel continues to be a delight, an all-ages female-centric title that manages to cover topical issues without preaching.  It is one of the few female friendly titles I feel comfortable allowing my 10-year old daughter read.

Honorable Mentions (an above average read): Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows  #4

Other reads:  All-New Wolverine #17, Black Widow #11, Deadpool the Duck #3, Doctor Strange and the Sorcerers Supreme #5, Foolkiller #4, Inhumans Vs x-Men #4, Jessica Jones #5, Kingpin #1, Power Man and Iron Fist #13, Totally Awesome Hulk #16, Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #17, Uncanny Inhumans #1.MU, and Unworthy Thor #4

Silver Age Spotlight

Marvel Silver Age Pick of the Week: Fantastic Four #56

                Klaw attacks the FF to try and drive the Black Panther to him.  A great issue with a lot of tension.  Klaw appears as he would be until the Modern age with a great design by Kirby, and a fantastic power set.  Lee and Kirby draw tension by having the Fantastic Four separated: Johnny is out looking for Crystal, Reed and Ban are in the lab, and Sue is cleaning up the apartment.  This allows Klaw to ratchet up the menace by taking on Sue and Ben one-on-one.  The only gap in plot is the fact that Klaw attacks at all.  There really isn’t a reason for him to be here, other than this is the FF’s comic.  Klaw knows who T’challa is and where Wakanda is, so using the FF as a go between doesn’t work.  However, the climax kind of uses that conceit to its advantage, as T’Challa sends Reed a needed component to help Reed, as Klaw intended, but the macguffin is delivered via a remote controlled automaton and not in person, thwarting his revenge.  We also get a rare sight, Reed beating a foe hand-to-hand, using the Vibranium bands delivered by the Black Panther to pummel Klaw into submission.

Honorable Mentions: Daredevil #21

Other Reads: Amazing Spider-Man #42, Amazing Spider-Man Annual #3, Avengers 33, and Fantastic Four Annual #4

DC Silver Age Pick of the Week: Funny Stuff #35

                I don’t have much to say, but Funny Stuff is probably my second favorite humor title of this area.  Blackie Bear and J. Rufus Lion are strong features, but the stars are Dodo and the Frog, and their strips whether a multi-page story or a strip ad-page topper are a delight.

Honorable Mentions: Adventure Comics #130 (Superboy feature only), Star Spangled Comics #82 (Tomahawk feature only)

Other Reads: Animal Antics #15, Western Comics #4

Golden Age Greats

I didn’t make much progress with my DC Golden Age Reading List.  Green Lantern #6 was a chore to get through.  It surprises me a lot, but this is the Golden Age title I struggle with the most.  The character as he is used isn’t compelling enough to sustain a 60+ page story and the direction is wrong-headed.  Enlisting Alan in the army, severely limits the stories you can do with him, and while I know continuity wasn’t a concern in the 40’s, it puts the quarterly book at odds with the monthly feature in All-American where Alan is still a civilian radio engineer.

A Change In The Order

Inspired by Jon M Wilson’s recent Facebook discussion on his reading order, I’ve decided to change mine.  Historically, I’ve tried to read a few from each list, bouncing back and forth, while continuing to stay current on Modern DC/Marvel.  I get dissatisfied with this easily as I’m torn between how much attention each list gets.  Some of this is down to size.  A Golden Age book, if you read all of the features is about twice the size of a Silver Age book and three times the size of a Modern book.  This has been a problem because I’ve wanted to read the Silver Age work of DC somewhat in alignment with Marvel Silver Age, but wanted to do the work to get there.  Therefore, I’m putting the new reading order in place:

1.       Current DC/Marvel – 5 books

2.        DC Silver Age – 4 books

3.       DC Golden Age – 3 books

4.       Marvel Silver Age – 2 books 

5.    Fawcett Golden Age - 1-2 books

Not strictly binary like Jon’s, but my plan is to go 1-2, 1-2-3, 1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4-5, etc.  I started it this weekend and it resulted in me getting through 15 modern books, 10 DC Silver Age, and 3 DC Golden Age. 

I’ve also added DC Silver Age to the rotation.  I’ve wanted to do it for a long time, but really struggled.  For one thing, I’ve wanted to read straight thru, but I know how long that will take.  Too many people are discussing too many things I want to dive in on, so I broke down and decided to do something about it.  But where to start?  That was the other thing.  Unlike Marvel which has a clear delineation, the DC Silver Age is harder to pin down.  There is the popular choice, Showcase #4.  But Martian Manhunter is a Silver Age character, and he appeared before that.  Captain Comet pre-dates Martian Manhunter.  However if I go back to the first issue of Strange Adventures, All-Star comics still has the JSA.  It made my head-spin.  I decided to invent my own Silver Age.  If I view the character as a Silver Age character, they are in.  If I don’t then they languish in the Golden Age until we hit their Silver Age start.  If it is an anthology title, I only read the feature that falls within the reading list.  As a guidepost, I’m looking to the Showcase Presents trades as a guide.  It works something like this: 

-          Most of the Funny Animal strips had a long run into the 60’s.  I treat them as Silver Age.

-          The Western titles, to me, are Silver Age books, especially since two of them replaced long-standing Golden Age titles.

-          The licensed books (Adventures of Alan Ladd, Bob Hope, etc.) I consider Silver Age

-          Tomahawk, to me, is a Silver Age character, so his strips from Star-Spangled Comics and World’s Finest are included.

-          Special consideration will be given to Superman and Batman since they have multiple Silver Age starts.  Since their first team-up in Superman #76 is considered a Silver Age tale, that month is when all of their strips (Detective, Action, Adventure, Superboy, Superman, Batman, World’s Finest) will get included.

 Coming Up: Expect something on funny animals, Funny Stuff in particular.  I have a soft spot for the funny animal genre because of how and when I was introduced to comics, and the Funny Stuff book has been some great reading.

 

Black Dragons, Black Panthers, and Podcasts

This one is an amalgamation of the past few days due to birthday celebrations and all-day work conferences.

COMIC COMMENTARY

Golden Age Greats 

All-Star Comics #12  The JSA, recently renamed the Justice Battalion splits up to save varying inventors and their inventors from the Black Dragon Society and are brought back together in the end to save Johnny Thunder and round up the leaders.  This is the same Black Dragon Society that was name-checked in the recent Atom strip in All-American on-sale the same month.  I noticed that the Sandman strip was not by Kirby and Simon which is unusual for the normal art team to not do their character's All-Star installment.




Silver Age Spotlight

Fantastic Four #52  Reed and team are lured to Wakanda to by King T'Challa in order to prove his readiness for something.  Lee and Kirby have been on a role since the beginning of the Frightful Four trilogy round #36.  This is the first one that wasn't bad, but hasn't lived up to its recent peers, especially the stellar #51.  I think what lets it down for me is Lee's dialogue.  The Panther is mister smug pants, "Ha, Ha I'm so smart and better because you can't defeat me because I laid traps."  Its bit like Kraven and Spider-Man.  Let me prove I am your better by ensuring a less than even playing field.  The story also ends abruptly for T'Challa to tell why he really wants them here in a forced cliff-hanger.  I really like that Black Panther has the classic full face mask here and not the Avengers half-mask.  I thought it was a more recent design aesthetic, but I should have trusted Kirby's design sense to have come up with it first.

PODCAST PROPS

Give Me Those Star Trek #1 The Cage click here to download Siskoid and Gene Hendricks examine the Star Trek Pilot, The Cage and muse what it might have been like if that was the Pilot that went to series.  A strong debut for the podcast.  My personal opinion is that it would have been a lot more serious Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea type of show and lasted 2-3 series.  I just don't think the type of cast would have allowed for the type of stories that made Star Trek a classic.

Film and Water Podcast: High Fidelity click here to download The episode makes me want to watch this movie.  I think I saw the latter half one night on cable when I woke up in the middle of the night one night.  It was also intersting to hear Rob have a guest on who had the same appreciation for the film, but who had different interpretations and take aways from different scenes

Palace of Glittering Delights: Enterprise  click here to download Andrew Leyland covers a recent watch-thru of key Enterprise episodes in honor of the 50the anniversary of Star Trek.  I've never seen Enterprise and this makes me want to check it out.  I think it would be interesting to watch it as kind of a Trek continuity order (ie watch Enterprise, then Star Trek TOS, then Star Trek Animated. etc.).  I do agree with Andy about the unsuitability for older shows to be binge watched, and I've started mixing and matching nights of TV from old series for fun and variety.

Also, I've listened to Jay and Miles X-Plain the X-Men episodes 103-105.  I may discuss them in more detail later, but I wanted to focus on some shows that haven't received as much coverage from me.

Comics (Carnage, Howard the Duck), The Avengers Season 1 Episode 6, and Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde(1920)

COMIC COMMENTARY

Modern Material

A busy Labor Day meant I read less than usual.

Carnage #11: I can’t lie, I follow this series solely because of the writer, Gerry Conway.  I can’t recommend this issue because it is a transitional issue so while there is good character work, not much happens to move the plot forward.  Carnage has been played as a horror title before, but usually in a splatterfest, gore kind of way.  Conway plays against type and drops Carnage in a supernatural world that takes more from Lovecraft than Eli Roth.  He’s also playing with several interesting characters not used anywhere in the Marvel universe like John Jameson, Eddie Brock, and Victoria Montessi.

Howard the Duck #10:  This felt like the prelude to a series wrap-up in advance of a series cancellation.  It’s a shame because this has been one of the better humor books from Marvel.  Things get meta as Howard discovers his series has been a guerilla filmed reality show for the Mojoverse and meets his writer and artist (or their stand-ins) who try to cover the fact that they’ve been taking bribes from Mojo to alter the course of Howard’s life.  With Howard having been used for both social commentary and pop culture parody, pairing Howard with Mojo to comment on reality TV and comment on some current Marvel trends is a natural fit.  Chip and Joe never goes so far as to bite the hands that feeds it, so it isn’t as biting as Gerber’s work, but still refreshing and funny.

TELEVISION TIDBITS

“Girl on the Trapeze” The Avengers Season 1, Episode 6: Dr. Keel and his nurse Carol become embroiled in a kidnapping plot as they try to unravel the mystery of the woman who jumped in the Thames.  If you only known the Avengers as that spy show with the man in a bowler and a kick-ass female sidekick, more so if you only thought that the Avengers was a Marvel comic.  Airing on ITV from 1962-1968, the Avengers did not start out as most fans of the series would have expected.  The star of the series was Ian Hendry who teamed with secret agent John Steed played by Patrick MacNee to help Steed solve difficult cases as one of Steed’s expert amateurs.  Almost none of the first season exists due to a short season because of a strike and the practice of wiping videotapes to reuse them.  This one of two episodes from that first season to survive.

     The episode is a bit atypical in that it doesn’t feature Steed, but it reinforces that Ian Hendry is the star.  The episode is a mystery that becomes a political thriller with a circus as a backdrop.  There is a lot of tension in the script by Dennis Spooner, and I enjoyed it thoroughly.  The only criticism is that the plan seems overly complex for a group of foreign agents operating in the UK because the purpose of the plot seems to change.  The kidnapped girl was at the wrong place/wrong time to visit the defecting trapeze artist who was murdered, and the murderers are using her to cover the murder (they have a VISA for 46 people so they need 46 to leave without suspicion).  However, by the end the kidnapping was the purpose of the plot in order to blackmail her defecting father to return.  It makes logical sense that a potential defector would reach out to someone who successfully had defected, it just caught me off-guard when the switch was revealed.  The episode doesn’t make a big deal out of it or call attention to it in the way that it was staged, it just made start to question the complexity of the plot.

MOVIE MADNESS

Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde (1920): This silent classic stars John Barrymore as both Jeckyll and Hyde.  I assume most readers will be familiar with the basics of the story through pop culture osmosis if nothing else.  Barrymore is a highlight with an extremely magnetic stage presence.  Brandon Hurst is also notable as the lecherous George Carew.  I found this to be a bit of a struggle until the Hyde transformation because the print I viewed did not have an orchestral score.  I find that my ability to stay engaged in a silent film depends on the number of title cards and the presence of a score of some kind to engage the audial sense.  Barrymore’s first Hyde transformation is awesome as a single long take achieved by facial contortion and not makeup.  Makeup does get used and becomes more explicit as a Dorian Gray approach is applied to Hyde, his visage becoming uglier and more monstrous as he engages in more depraved activity.  I also like the glimpses we get into the vices.  When Carew tempts Jeckyll and puts him on the track to becoming Hyde, it involves a particular dance hall girl.  Hyde is shown to seduce her, throw her out, and she later appears in an opium den as Hyde picks up another lover.  It was really an effective way of showing events that are only hinted at in the novella.

Convergence Blues

Convergence is so...meh.  Is anyone else as underwhelmed as I am?  I've only read Convergence #1, and a handful of crossovers (Atom, Batgirl, Batman and Robin, and Harley Quinn), bur its really disappointing:
1. Not only is the battle arena motif played out in popular culture right now, it went over like a lead balloon with Countdown Arena.  What may now the time to revisit it?
2. Not that misleading promotional buzz is anything new, but does anyone else feel a bait and switch?  This isn't revisiting old friends like they were.  The conditions under the domes have changed these characters.  They aren't as they were, and most of the titles haven't captured the flavor of the old runs. 
3.  I am an old school Captain Carrot fan.  It was my transition book.  I had a few super hero comics, but most of my earliest books were from Whitman grab bags.  Captain Carrot was the bridge from Bugs Bunny and Pink Panther to Brave and the Bold and Justice League for me.  Why do I think everyone is going to fall to pre-Flashpoint, New 52, or Nu Earth-2?  I want to see Captain Carrot and and Fastback as much as folks want to see the pre-Zero Hour Superman or the JLI.  I don't want them sacrificed in a heavy-handed metaphor on how their time is passed aka their heads handed to them by Harley Quinn or Prof. Zoom.

From start to finish the execution feels wrong.  How much cooler would it be if they were frozen in time, like flies in amber and they teamed-up against a mutual threat instead of squaring off in a ring.  And really pulling iconic representations, not every Elseworld also-ran.  You want to do a story of the Atom?  Either follow-up on where the back-ups were taking him pre-Flashpoint (which seemed like a cool back-to-basics approach) or Sword of the Atom era Atom.  I give DC a lot of slack.  Yes, the Superman books have been so-so since the new 52, but there has been a lot of good to come out of it (All-Star Western by Gray and Palmotti, Batman by Snyder and Capullo, Wonder Woman by Azzarello and Chiang, Batgirl by Cameron Stewart as examples). I'm just not used to an "event" from DC leaving me feeling this way.

More Weirdness from the Golden Age (circa 1940)

How do you challenge Hawkman, the Winged Wonder?  Have him faced with an invasion from an underwater race, the Kogats.  How do you have him overcome the challenge?  With a literal deus ex machina courtesy of Flash Comics #9 -- Poseidon grants Hawkman the ability to speak and breathe underwater!!!  Wonder if we'll ever see that ability used again?

Marvel Silver-Age Selections from Jan. 1964

Last night I read Amazing Spider-Man #8,  Avengers #3, Fantastic Four #22, and Journey Into Mystery #100.  My thoughts:
- Amazing Spider-Man #8: Peter Parker and Flash Thompson face of the in gym ring while a robot runs amok in the halls.  In a back-up, Spider-Man crashes Johnny Storm's party and tussles again with the Fantastic Four.  Probably the weakest issue of Spider-Man's first year.  The introduction of the Tinker is a worse story than the Living Brain story, but that issues was buoyed up by the first appearance of the Vulture.  Still, weak Lee and Ditko still makes for a pretty good comic, and I get a cathartic charge every time I read Peter pasting Flash, even if it was accidental.  I miss Flash.  I know he's currently in space in Guardians of the Galaxy, but I've just realized...in the current series Peter doesn't really have friends any more.

-Avengers #3: The team is challenged by Sub-Mariner and Hulk to a fight to the finish.  Until Avengers #4, and the introduction of Captain America, and almost as importantly in #6, Baron Zemo, Avengers was a little aimless after its first issue.  This issue has some decent moments, Hulk being unable to pry Thor's hammer from him for one, but you can tell that Stan was at a bit of a loss.  Any foe strong enough to be a threat to the whole team would outclass Giant-Man and Wasp, but anyone less than that is a push-over for Iron Man and Thor.  It's why I think they had the Hulk quit and become an antagonist for a while: alone he was a threat for the entire team.  Really what hurts this issue is its a team that's not quite gelled.  Everyone tries to act on their own, and while no one get owned, that means Giant-Man backstops Iron Man and Thor while the Wasp....flies around?   It makes to a certain extent, these four not being a cohesive team, but I think its more Stan and Jack really didn't have a sense for how they could measure up and work together yet.

- Fantastic Four #22: An experiment by Reed, increases Sue's powers just in time, as the Mole Man launches a scheme to heat-up the Cold War.  The best of the lot.  This is the spot in there run where Stan and Jack are not so much flying from the seat of their pants, but honing their craft.  Jack has some rather eventful traps that the Mole Man devises, particularly the  cotton trap for Ben, and Stan has Sue make leaps forward in terms of being an asset to the team and silencing the naysayers who pointed out she only existed as the team's damsel in distress.  Their are still plot holes to be sure (how did the Mole Man arrange all of those complaints?) and Stan still doesn't know how to pace a story so it doesn't just abruptly end (Well...let's go home).

- Journey Into Mystery #100:  The second part of the first two-parter I think we've had in the Thor strip.  Mr. Hyde kidnaps Dr. Blake and Nurse Foster while trying to steal a Polaris sub-marine.  If the synopsis sounds a bit ridiculous, it is.  The first part in #99 was much stronger with Thor finding a loop-hole to court Jane Foster, and Calvin Zabo using his new-found power to avenge himself against Don Blake for a career slight earlier in their lives and Thor for interfering.  Nothing that you've seen of Mr. Hyde last issue makes you think that stealing a nuclear sub would be in his wheelhouse.  It's like Lee and Heck are so used to industrial sabotage stories in Iron Man that they forgot they were writing Thor.  Actually Thor was pretty adrift in this period.  It wouldn't be until Kirby returned to the book that it would dig deep into the cosmic and Asgardian roots that its more known for.  There is a Leiber drawn sci-fi morality tale in the "who is the real monster" vein titled 'Unreal', and in the Tales of Asgard by Lee and Kirby, a young Thor and Loki mix it up with a couple of Storm Giants.

Overlooked Gems of the Golden Age (circa 1940) - Part One

Red, White, and Blue

Debuting in All-American Comics #1, the feature told the adventures of Red Dugan, Whitey Smith, and Blooey Blue childhood friends who had enrolled in the Aire Force, Army, and Navy respectively.  The three are hand-picked by Army Intelligence to undertake special missions at home or abroad.  The fourth member of their group was FBI agent Doris West who was their handler and typically already undercover and thoroughly mixed up in whatever the team was asked to investigate.  The strips have good clean art from William Smith (better than a lot of the 1939/1940 art) and a setup that served a wide variety of stories from Jerry Seigel in one of his earliest non-Shuster collaborations.  The majority of the adventure/war/detective strips seem limited in their plot repertoire, but Red, White, and Blue plots range from confronting saboteurs and fifth columnists to racing foreign powers to lay claim to a natural resource.  There is a formula: Doris normally gets in over her head, Blooey normally bungles his way into and out of trouble, with Whitey and Red bringing in the cavalry.  The antics of Whitey and Blooey provide comic relief without veering into full-on slapstick and the attraction between Doris and Red gives Seigel the opportunity to write a lot of romantic comedy banter in the nature of Myrna Loy and William Powell.

Weird Facts from the Golden Age (circa 1940)

- Hawkman's Nth Metal wings and belt were originally Ninth metal in Flash Comics #1
- Villain watch:  Super Villains that have popped up in reading: Dr. Death, Hugo Strange, Clayface I, Joker, Catwoman, Ultra-Humanite, Lex Luthor, Wotan (Dr. Fate villain), Nyla (Hawkman villain), Zor (Spectre villain) and Kulak (Spectre villain).  Most of these won't be seen outside of the the Golden Age until appearing in All-Star Squadron.
- All-American gave out free copies of All-Star comics #2 for feedback on All-Star #1 and repeated the give-away for All-Star #3.  Can you imagine getting for free All-Star Comics #3 ?!?!
- I've just started listening to Tales of the Justice Society podcast by Scott Gardner and Michael Bailey.  Mike has no love for Johnny Thunder.  According to the front cover of All-Star Comics #2, he was added to the title's content because of reader requests.
- Love interests don't play the part you necessarily expect them to.  Superman has Lois Lane, thought the relationship is one-sided and at the "What a man!" level of sophistication.  But while Joan Williams and Shiera Saunders have been in 4 out of the 7 issues of Flash comics, they aren't yet Girl Friday's.  Normally they meet in passing or the start of the story is the end of a date.  Only Dian Belmont actively participates in Sandman's adventures.
- And speaking of Sandman, maybe Dr. Mid-Nite isn't the only doctor in the JSA:
    From Adventure Comics #54 (reprinted in Golden Age Sandman Archives), "It's a good thing I crammed in those two years of medical school"!

My dad

1st comic I remember owning

 On April 22nd 2015 at 5:30 pm Central, Wilbur Earl Hooks II passed away, and I lost the single biggest influence on my life.  Everything I am, everything I consider important I can trace back to him in some way.  Of course the obvious things, the big things: the importance of values, of family, and of an honest day's work, but also the little things:

Comics?  Here is the secret origin of Trey Hooks and comics.  My dad was always a religious man, a firm believer in God, but he had a greater appreciation for the philosophical and historical side of religion than let's say...the practical applications or others views of the practical applications.  He was all for a sermon on the importance of love or the tribulations of Elijah, but he had no patience or need of a sermon on "12 Tips from the Bible on How to Invest Your Money".  So on those Sundays, and there were many in the late 70's, while my mom dutifully sang in choir, he would dutifully put his tithe in the offering plate, take me to the restroom, and then down the backstairs, out the church doors, into the car, and down to a 7-11 about 5 minutes away.  The purchase was always the same: 2 doughnuts, an Icee, a coffee, one Sunday paper, and one comic.  Those Sundays spent in relative silence (as I remember it) sharing a booth at the convenience store was my first introduction to the worlds of Batman, Spider-Man, etc.  I can't swear that its the first comic I owned, but Amazing Spider-Man #194 is the earliest one I remember him buying for me.

Movies?  One of the family legends is the time I ensured my Dad got a speeding ticket by telling a police office that he was "making us late for a movie".  I was 5, the year was 1980, and I could be forgiven for being excited...the movie was The Empire Strikes Back.  Its the first memory I have of going to a movie theater.

Doctor Who?  I don't how my dad discovered it or why.  I don't know when we began watching it.  I do know that for a little kid with an 8:00 bedtime, the one exception, no questions asked was Saturday nights when Doctor Who started at 9:00 on PBS.  We saw them either cut into a movie or aired back-to-back.  Tom Baker was my dad's favorite doctor over the old one (Jon Pertwee), the young one (Peter Davison), and the look-alike (Colin Baker) [Somehow we had seen Colin Baker episodes in the midst of Tom Baker episodes before we knew about regeneration.  We thought it was supposed to be the same guy played by a similar actor.  I guess we were kind of right in hindsight].  He never really got into the relaunch.  One of my favorite pictures is this:

3 Generations of Dr. Who Fans

It's my father, my 4 year old son, and myself watching the 50th episode together.  My highlight?  The look on my Dad's face of unabashed glee when you heard Tom Baker's voice at the start of his scene.

If you ask people who was Wilbur Earl Hooks II, most people will give you a blank stare, because he went by the nickname Buddy his entire life, and in a way that's fitting.  More people considered him friend than probably anyone I know.  He was certainly the best father I will ever know.  He was certainly one of the best friends and mentors.